Safe to Plant

Lettuce · The Bronx, New York, United States

When to plant lettuce in The Bronx

Main outdoor window

25 Mar - 8 Apr

The window this page is built around.

Timed from last spring frost

15 April

In The Bronx, on your chosen risk.

Ready to pick

9-24 May

If you plant at the start of the window.

The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.

Step by step in The Bronx

Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.

Start indoors

4-18 Mar

Six weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.

Sow for autumn

1-22 Aug

Counting back 74 days from your first frost so the crop matures in time.

Sow direct

25 Mar - 8 Apr

Three weeks before your last frost.

Plant out

1-15 Apr

Two weeks before your last frost.

Harvest

9-24 May

Sow in succession. A single sowing gives you a single glut. Sow a short row every 10 days through the window above and you get a steady supply instead.
Frost tolerance
Half-hardy
Damaged below
-3°C (26.6°F)
Days to maturity
45–60
Min soil temp
4.5°C (40.1°F)
Spacing
25 cm
Sowing depth
6 mm (0.2 in)
Sun
Partial

Lettuce through the year

Against the frost risk in The Bronx

Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

Frost risk Start indoors Autumn sowing Sow direct Plant out Harvest Today

Why these dates

Sow every ten days from six weeks before last frost. Pause through midsummer, then resume for an autumn crop - late sowings are often the best of the year.

Tolerates -3C and a light frost actually sweetens the leaf. Seed germinates poorly above 25C, which is the more common problem.

Seed packets and extension guides express timing as weeks either side of the last spring frost, because that is the only reference point that travels. Lettuce are timed from 6 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 2 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for The Bronx.

The median frost-free season here is 203 days, against 45 to 60 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.

See every crop timed for The Bronx →

Growing lettuce in The Bronx

When should I plant lettuce in The Bronx?

Aim for 25 Mar - 8 Apr in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 3-17 Apr - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.

When will lettuce be ready to harvest in The Bronx?

Expect to start picking around 9-24 May, based on 45 to 60 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.

How much frost will lettuce tolerate?

Tolerates -3C and a light frost actually sweetens the leaf. Seed germinates poorly above 25C, which is the more common problem.